• European Court: Scottish DNA database system is "fairer and proportionate"

    the European Court of Human Rights ruled the DNA databases in Britain, Wales, and Northern Ireland “could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society”; the European Court considered the system in Scotland “fair and proportionate”

  • Britain to remove some DNA profiles from database

    About 5.2 percent of the U.K. population is on the national DNA database, compared with just 0.5 percent in the United States; the European Court of Human Rights rules that Britain’s DNA database is incompatible with the requirements of democracy, and the Home Office says it will begin to remove the DNA of innocent citizens

  • Growing problem: Private security companies pose risk to privacy

    Government mandates in the U.K. now require more and more businesses to collect more and more information about individuals who use these businesses’ services; private contractors are hired to handled the collection and handling of the personal information collected; these contractors are not bound by the tight rules governing the government handling of such information (not that the U.K. government is doing a very good job following these rules)

  • Big boost for the Great Aussie Firewall

    Australia’s Labor government wants to make the Internet cleaner and safer; to do that, the government last year introduced a proposal for a filtering scheme — dubbed the Great Aussie Firewall — which would block sites on an existing blacklist determined by the Australian Communications Media Authority; the project has just received a big boost

  • Hathaway: cybersecurity must be joint effort

    President Obama’s top cybersecurity adviser: The fragility of the world’s digital infrastructure is “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges of the 21st century”

  • U.S. 100% screening law in doubt

    In 2007, Congress passed a law requiring 100% screening of U.S.-bound air cargo; in February, TSA reached the 50% screening milestone, but the agency says 100% screening is not likely anytime soon; other countries do not mind, saying unilateral U.S. moves on screening violate their sovereignty

  • Hackers made off with more than 285 million records in 2008

    Hackers managed to steal 285 million private records in 2008; 93 percent of all compromised records in its study came from the financial sector

  • White House to coordinate cybersecurity efforts

    White House to coordinate securing networks government-wide, identifying more than 250 requirements in an on-going 60-day review of federal cybersecurity initiatives

  • Texas electrical grid's operator says he is on watch for hackers

    Bob Kahn, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: “We are constantly modifying and upgrading our protections as technology advances, business requirements change and new threats emerge”

  • Hackers of U.S. electrical grid left behind "sleeper" software programs

    The U.S. electrical grid has been penetrated by sophisticated hackers who left behind “sleeper” software programs which could be remotely activated to disrupt the system; the intelligence community says it is the work of Russian and Chinese government operatives

  • U.K. Home Office terrorism advisory site offered link to a porno site

    On Monday, a new EU regulation went into effect mandating that ISPs store details of user e-mails and Internet calls; a Home Office site contained a link for citizens who felt the measure was too intrusive, and who would want to send the Home Office a complaint about it; trouble is, those who clicked on the link were sent to a Japanese porno site

  • U.K. Tories charge government's legal dodge over Comms database debate

    The U.K. government last year revealed plans for creating a massive central database of e-mail, Web browsing, telephone, and social networking data; U.K. law mandates that such a database be approved by parliament; Tories charge that the government is using the European rules obliging data retention by ISPs — rules which come into effect today — to begin assembling this centralized system, or its prototype

  • California politician wants to censor online maps

    The twin developments of improved satellite imagery and the availability of such images on Google Maps lead many to worry that among the main beneficiaries of these developments are terrorists; in California a law is being debated which would blur features of sensitive buildings and sites

  • A wave of food recalls fuels drive for food safety reform

    The FDA told consumers Monday to stop eating anything containing pistachios; the FDA was tipped off by Kraft Foods on 24 March, after the company found salmonella in routine testing and recalled some trail mix

  • U.S. cybersecurity law to give feds unprecedented Internet control

    Lawmakers draft legislation giving the U.S. government unprecedented authority over the U.S. critical infrastructure, including the power to shut down or limit traffic on private networks during emergencies; the legislation is intended to protect a broad range of the U.S. infrastructure — including networks for the country’s banking industry, utilities, transportation, and telecommunications — from cyber attacks